Chris Jefferies, the former landlord of the murdered landscape architect Joanna Yeates, has been released from police bail more than two months after he was arrested over her killing.

Former public school teacher Jefferies, 66, was arrested on 30 December, five days after Yeates' body was found on a frozen roadside verge on suspicion of murdering his 25-year-old neighbour. He was released on police bail on New Year's Day. Another of Yeates' neighbours, Vincent Tabak, was subsequently charged with her murder and is in prison awaiting trial.

A police spokesman confirmed that Jefferies had been released from police bail. "Avon and Somerset police can confirm that a 66-year-old arrested on suspicion of murdering Joanna Yeates was released without charge on Friday 4 March," the spokesman said.

It is not known why Jefferies was held on police bail for so long but friends said he was relieved at the development.

Close friend Brian Worthington, who got to know Jefferies when they were colleagues at Clifton College, Bristol, said: "I was told by him that he had been released and he was immensely relieved and really pleased. Maybe now he can get on with his life. He has a lot of very good friends that have given him tremendous support and believed immediately in his innocence since he was arrested.

"Everybody has been puzzled as to why it hasn't happened sooner. Everybody around him expected his bail to be lifted. I don't know if he is angry at the police - he is being advised by his solicitors on what to do and say next. He's just immensely pleased."

The arrest of Jefferies provoked a media frenzy and has led to some MPs calling for the law to be changed so that suspects cannot be named before they are charged.

It also emerged that Jefferies has put his one-bedroom first floor flat at Canynge Road, Clifton, Bristol, up for sale. Estate agent pictures show the flat looking neat and tidy with no hint of the forensic examination that took place after Jefferies' arrest.

Yeates' body was found on Christmas morning eight days after she left a pub in Bristol where she had been drinking with friends.

Tabak, an architectural engineer and Dutch national, was charged with Yeates' murder on 22 January. His trial is due to take place in the autumn.